Nails of the Week: Essie's Bikini So Teeny with Polka Dots

With Easter just around the corner, this week I wanted to do a pastel, springy color. To me, Bikini So Teeny by Essie is the perfect color for spring. It looks so good by itself that I considered whether or not I should even do the polka dots. For some reason though, polka dots just seem fitting for spring so I decided to go for it. I am happy I did because they turned out super cute and are perfect for Easter. Although, let's be real, my nails will be different by the time next Sunday rolls around.

Top Ten Favorite Nail Designs

Anyone who knows me understands that I have been obsessed with doing my nails for a very long time. For as long as I can remember, I have done my nails once a week, every week. I can't stand to have chipped nails or cracking nail polish so once a week they must be done, no matter what. It wasn't until about two years ago though that I really started getting into nail art. Since my blog is new, but my obsession is old, I thought I would share my top ten nail art favorites from the past.


1. Multi Colored Leopard Print
This is probably the first true nail art that I really did. Before this, I had probably experimented with some other designs, but none were really successful. This design was created using nail art pens that my mom bought. I guess it was those pens that gave me the courage to try some nail art, but I have since found that I am able to successfully do nail designs without them.

2. Zebra Print

After trying out leopard print, I was of course anxious to try my hand at zebra print. I had used the Sally Hansen Salon Effects polish strips to have zebra print nails before, but I wanted to be able to create them on my own. I used black acrylic paint and a small paint brush to carefully paint zebra stripes on my nails.

3. Pink Zebra Print

Since the first zebra print design turned out so well, I decided to try it again. This time I paired it with my favorite color, 24/7 by Sinful Colors. I really liked the way the zebra print looked with the hot pink.

4. Blue and Gray Chevron

Sometime last year, I discovered how to make a template for chevron nails with pinking shears and tape. I had been wanting to do a Chevron Mani for a long time because I had fell in love with chevron stripes. This was not my first time doing chevron (which did turn out well), but I really liked how well the gray paired with the light blue in this design. I liked it so much that I did my toes to match. For this design I used What's with the Cattitude (blue) and French Quarter for Your Thoughts (gray), both by OPI.

5. Polka Dots

This design from last summer was the first time that I tried polka dots. I was worried that doing full polka dots would be too much to handle so I decided to do it on only one finger of each hand. I have since done polka dots on all my nails and really like it. However, when I don't feel like doing ALL that work, I will do polka dots like this. The coral color I used was Flip Flop Fantasy by China Glaze.

6. Gray Chevron

This design was from last fall. I was wanting to do chevron, but I didn't want to do anything too bright because that wouldn't have been season appropriate. So I decided to do it with gray. This gray is the same color as the above chevron. However, this time I wanted to try the chevron free-hand for the first time. It wasn't as perfect as using a template, but it was a lot faster and I was happy how it turned out. The best part of this design was that I was able to create an outfit that matched, all the way down to the sparkle on my jeans and shoes! Again, those of you who know me also know I love to match.

7. Penguins and Polka Dots

This design is from last Christmas. I had been getting up the courage to try a penguins since the year before and I finally decided to try it. I thought penguins would be too hard to do on all my nails so I decided to do polka dots on all the other nails and alternate between red and green to bring in some Christmas flair. I also did a YouTube tutorial on this design which is linked beneath the picture. 

8. Christmas Lights

To keep in the Christmas spirit after my penguin nails, I did some Christmas lights. I used acrylic paint to do the wire and nail polish and a dotting tool to do the lights.

9. New Year's Eve Mani

Around Christmas time I had gotten a gorgeous gold glitter, My Favorite Ornament by OPI, that I really wanted to use. So I paired it with black to create a New Year's Eve look. I used tape to create the gold triangles. I actually filmed a tutorial on it, but got really sick and was unable to finish it. I plan to finish it and post it for next New Year's.

10. Valentine's Mani

This design is from this past Valentine's day. I put loose pink glitter over pink polish to create a really glittery effect. I made the heart by painting a heart with nail polish on a plastic baggie. When the heart dried, I peeled it off with tweezers and stuck it on my nail. 

I hope you enjoyed my top ten nail art favorites. Stay tuned for more nail art posts!

Nails of the Week: Turquoise Chevron

For my nails this week, I decided to do something creative since I've been rocking plain colored nails for the past couple of weeks. This mani is inspired by my favorite scarf that I got from Kohl's several months back. The blue color isn't exactly the same, but it looks pretty darn close.

The nail polishes I used were:

• Turquoise- China Glaze Turned Up Turquoise. 
• White_ Ulta Snow White
• Silver- Sally Hansen Celeb City under an Orly silver glitter 

I did the chevron free-hand with black acrylic paint and a small paint brush. I used to do the chevron with tape and pinking sheers, but I found that it got a little messy (especially if I didn't let the white dry long enough).